The Brixton Riot’s Palace Amusements is 12 tracks of modern indie pop influenced by the past. The New Jersey quartet spices up their fairly common melodies with exaggerated guitars that tend to have an old-school flair to them. Though most of the tracks are upbeat and catchy, some stand out more than others. Take “Our Cover’s Been Blown,” for example. The bass heavy cut is hooky but not in such a generic way, and like previously mentioned, the retro guitar tones are a nice touch. Palace Amusements was a pleasant surprise, as none of the numbers were particularly dull or dry. Each had something unique to them to make them shine even a little bit.
“Pinwheel” ended up being another favorite on the release. The mellow cut brings down the energy of the album a little bit, yet keeps the use of outstanding bass grooves going accompanied by a more dominant drum beat. Even with the more relaxed verses, the chorus packs a punch with the strenuous, wailing guitar. The four-piece takes on a circus like feel to it for the shortest piece, “Carmelita.” Out of the tracks on the release, “It’s Been Too Long” is ultimately the strongest song on Palace Amusements. The piece fluctuates between high-energy guitar riffs, passion fueled vocals and an ‘80s ballad, containing outlandish drumming.
In its entirety, Palace Amusements just flows from one solid song to the next without disappointing the listener. There really is a little bit of everything stuck into the DNA that makes up the disc.
In A Word: Pleasing
